Training General Practitioners to Detect Probable Mental Disorders in Young People During Health Risk Screening.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether a training intervention increases general practitioners' (GPs) detection sensitivity for probable mental disorders in young people.

Methods: Forty general practices were randomized to an intervention (29 GPs) or comparison arm (49 GPs). Intervention GPs participated in 9 hours of interactive training on youth-friendly care, psychosocial health risk screening, and responding to risk-taking behavior with motivational interviewing approaches, followed by practice visits assisting with integration of screening processes and tools. Youth aged 14-24 years attending GPs underwent a computer-assisted telephone interview about their consultation and psychosocial health risks. Having a "probable mental disorder" was defined as either scoring high on Kessler's scale of psychological distress (K10) or self-perceived mental illness. Other definitions tested were high K10; self-perceived mental illness; and high K10 and self-perceived mental illness. Psychosocial health risk screening rates, detection sensitivity, and other accuracy parameters (specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value) were estimated.

Results: GPs' detection sensitivity improved after the intervention if having probable mental disorder was defined as high K10 score and self-perceived mental illness (odds ratio: 2.81; 95% confidence interval: 1.23-6.42). There was no significant difference in sensitivity of GPs' detection for our preferred definition, high K10 or self-perceived mental illness (.37 in both; odds ratio: .93; 95% confidence interval: .47-1.83), and detection accuracy was comparable (specificity: .84 vs. .87, positive predictive values: .54 vs. .60, and negative predictive values: .72 vs. .72).

Conclusions: Improving recognition of mental disorder among young people attending primary care is likely to require a multifaceted approach targeting young people and GPs.